Memorial day hike

We love long weekends! Scott and I were able to get a lot of yard work done. The kids helped(aka, threw dirt, dug holes and tried to keep Annabelle from eating too much dirt) too so it was a family event :). Monday morning, we told the kids after we did a little more yard work, we could go hiking. So that's what we did.

There was a spot in front of the shed that was full of weeds and very little grass.
We dug them all out and, soon enough, we'll spread mulch over top.

Scott digging out weeds near the garden

Once we finished pulling out all the weeds from three trouble-spots, we packed up some snacks and our gear, and took off for Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was about 2 miles altogether, and a pretty easy hike; a good one for the kids. This was Elisabeth and Charlie's first time hiking on their own. Last time we went hiking, Annabelle was in my tummy, and we each carried a kid in those hiking backpacks.

getting ready to hike

Charlie eating a sandwich before we began our hike

Pretty water in the background. We got to cross over a small bridge here, which the kids enjoyed.

Everyone did really well on the hike. Scott and I each held one of the kids hands during most of the time because it was a little muddy and slippery in some spots because the snow is still melting up top. Once we got to the end, where the Donut Falls are, there's this steep rock, only about 10 feet tall(that's my estimate), that you have to climb down. Once you're down, you walk along the edge of the water, and then step onto a trail of rocks that are mostly under water, to get a little further out so that you can see the falls. As we got to the steep rock, we watched a family in front of us, struggle a little, to get down. We could see the running water from the falls, just not the falls. That's when I said to Scott, "I think this is good. What do you think?" But he said he'd like to try and go down still, so that we could actually see the falls. So we carefully climbed down, helping the kids climb as well, over the slippery and muddy rocks. That was the scariest part. Climbing back up wasn't as bad. And the falls were very pretty. We held the kids close as we walked, because we didn't want to lose anyone to the rushing water. Water always makes me nervous, mostly because 1.) the kids can't swim, and 2.) they don't have enough sense to stay away...in fact, they are drawn to the water; just like they're drawn to fires. But anyways, the kids did great, Annabelle was on Scott's back in the backpack the whole time, and I gave Charlie a piggy-back ride for part of the time when he got a little tired. I'm so excited that the weather is warming up so that we can go on more hikes!

You can see the people down below in this picture. We're standing on the rocks that we're about to climb down so that we can see the falls. Pretty falls

On our way back down the trail, we stopped on flat ground and let Annabelle walk around. And we shared some apples.

Later that night we ate dinner at Arctic Circle. We love that they give free courtesy cones. Annabelle already likes to hold her own. And she can finish it, cone and all.

Daddy trying to take a bite of Annabelle's cone.